Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 4: Air
by Liefkai
Summary: Book 4 of the T.V. series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The story continues on... I do not own the show Avatar: The Last Airbender, Nickelodeon does. I do own this story though, so don't steal it!
1. Chapter 1

Book Four: Air

Chapter 1

Aang aroused from his huge, fancy, king-sized bed in the Earth King's palace. He awoke to something sloppy and wet touching his face; Bosco was licking him excessively. "Aw, c'mon Bosco, get off of me," he said, gently pushing the bear away. As Aang lifted his head up from Bosco's direction, he looked over at the door to see Katara looking at him. He smiled, remembering that they were together now. It took one whole year, but now Katara was his. He remembered when she had ignored him and thought of him as a "little brother". Those times were over now. He no longer yearned to hold Katara in his arms, now he could.

"Good morning, Aang," Katara said, blushing, remembering that they had kissed yesterday at the Jasmine Dragon. How could she forget? She prayed that Sokka, Toph, Suki, Zuko, or Iroh hadn't seen them. She was pretty sure Sokka hadn't, because if he had Aang wouldn't be awake right now.

"Good morning Katara."

"Oh yeah, Aang, the Earth King said he needed us at an important meeting early this morning. You have to get ready. I'll wait for you in the hallway," Katara told him as she gently shut the door behind her so Aang could get dressed.

Aang groaned. Wasn't the war over? Why did they have to get up so early and work all day? They were supposed to be living in luxury. He unwillingly put on some pants and tossed his yellow shirt onto his back. Then he put his air nation necklace around his neck and walked out the door to find Katara waiting for him. He grabbed her hand as they walked down the hallways to Earth King Kuei's meeting.

They walked through a big fancy door and quickly let go of each other's hands and took two seats next to each other. They looked across the room to see a sleepy Sokka with his arm around Suki. Kuei was sitting on a chair in the center that was elevated higher than the rest. Firelord Zuko was also there, sitting next to Mai. Many other faces they recognized were there, such as Hakoda, the other Kyoshi Warriors, most of the Freedom Fighters, and lots of other people. Everyone was here except for… "Where is Toph?! She was supposed to be here _twenty minutes _ago!" the Earth King shouted at one of the many generals around the huge table.

"Sorry Your Highness, but I just sent four of my loyal attendants to go and fetch her."

Kuei still did not look pleased but he seemed to calm down a bit and lean back into his regal chair. Suddenly, the huge door burst open, three of the attendants dragging Toph into the room. One of them was lying unconscious on the floor. "I thought the stinking' war was _over_!" Toph shouted, "I don't want to go to some stupid meeting! I'm so tired!" The attendants flung Toph right into one of the chairs next to Suki. Everyone seemed to stare at her and Sokka gave her a funny look. She looked down at her feet embarrassed. Her hair was a mess; it looked like it was almost four feet high. Also, she was still wearing her sloppy clothes that she slept in.

"Well, on that note, let's get this meeting started," Kuei announced, "Okay, so the war is indeed over, and, thanks to the Order of the White Lotus, Ba Sing Se has also been re-conquered by the Earth Kingdom, but one-hundred years of war has left the world very scarred. There are many things needed to be done and many places to go to begin to rebuild the world and create an admired era of peace. Does anyone have any suggestions on where we should focus on helping first? We will not _all _be in the same place, but we will all split up into fairly small groups."

"How about all the forests the Fire Nat- I mean Ozai burned down?" Aang suggested, remembering the Firelord sitting in the same room as him.

"Hmm… The environment is very important to our world, but not a need we need to take rushed action on. I think we will send some troupes there now, but turn our focus to that later," the Earth King commented.

"We could try to find more innocent Fire Nation prisoners and set them free," Zuko thought out loud.

"Yes, that is very important and will need quick action taken upon it. But, we have already released most of the prisoners. Still, I will send some people to go and double check."

"What about all those sick and injured people in the outer ring of Ba Sing Se? We're already in Ba Sing Se and people could die if we don't revive them soon enough. Ozai's invaders brought many foreign diseases here that the people aren't immune to," Katara recommended.

"That is a good idea Katara. I suggest you, Aang, Zuko, Toph, Sokka, Mai, and Suki go there right now. I will arrange for a private, exclusive train to take you there immediately. Thank you for your input, and I will send a messenger hawk to you when it is time for the next meeting," Kuei said as he patted Bosco on the head and waved them good bye. The Aang Gang left the meeting room and walked out the big, fancy door.

"Hey Toph, that reminds me," Sokka said as they were walking towards the train, "Where's Hawky?"

"Uh…" Toph stammered, then smiled, "He was fighting with Momo and Appa got ticked and ate him." Toph still hadn't heard back from her parents. She had sent that letter several months ago. Maybe they really did hate her.

Sokka smiled as she punched his arm, "Sure, I believe that."

They then reached the train and all sat down. Sokka sat down quiet slowly, because he had not yet fully recovered from his leg injury that he had gotten during Sozin's Comet. Earth benders on the side of the train bended the rock tracks to make the train ride down them. Aang and Katara sat next to each other, quietly talking and Zuko and Mai did the same.

"So… just like old times, right?" Sokka said, remembering his travels with all these people (excluding Suki and Mai) all over the world.

"Yeah," Zuko responded, "Just like old times…" He hoped not. He didn't want to see any more violence, cruelty, or betrayal. He winced, thinking of what he had done to his uncle. But then he sighed, and released all the pain out. That was behind him now. He had restored his honor.

Finally, the train reached the most outer ring of the city, right by the wall. The Earth King planned to remove the rings of Ba Sing Se soon; they divided all the citizens of the city.

As they got out of the train Aang said, "I think we should split up. We could help more people that way. I'll go with Katara, Zuko, you go with Mai, and Sokka, Suki, and Toph can go together. Meet back here in half an hour." Everyone agreed and went their separate ways.

Katara and Aang quickly walked down the rough, damaged road and knocked on the first door they saw. They heard shouts and rustling, then a ragged woman peeked out the door and barked, "What do you want?"

"Hello. I'm the Avatar and this is my friend, Katara," Aang replied calmly, "We just wanted to know if you needed any help."

"No," the lady said as she slammed the door in their faces.

Katara, being her sassy self, flung the door back open and said, "We just offered you help, and you just slam the door in our faces?!"

"Yes," the woman answered.

Katara fumed and said, "Forget it Aang! She's not worth helping." But then she looked into the woman's beaten down house and saw a child leaning over the bed of a sick boy. At this, Katara calmed down a bit and showed her sympathy. "I'm sorry for barging into your house, but all we really want to do is to help."

"Fine," the woman snapped, letting them inside more. She sighed and sank down into a ripped up chair.

Katara rushed to the little boy's side, and asked the other child next to him what happened. "Little Timmy got sick," replied the young girl that was sucking her thumb. Katara sighed. She prayed that she could help Little Timmy. She looked back to see Aang talking to some other children there and the lady weeping in her chair. Katara unscrewed the cap from her water pouch and bended some water so it surrounded her hands. She then touched the little boy's chest and the water glowed a bright blue color as she used her healing abilities on him. Timmy coughed and sat up. He looked at Katara with hurt, but happy puppy eyes and murmured, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Katara replied, happy to have helped. The children Aang had talked to seemed a lot happier as well. Even the grumpy lady seemed a bit relieved. They had done a good job.

Zuko and Mai walked down the streets, observing each house as they passed it. Out of the corner of his eye, Zuko spotted a grimy looking man laying face-down in a sewer. He walked towards the man and tapped his shoulder and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay to you?!" the man cried, suddenly sitting upright, revealing a scarred face and a mouth with hardly any teeth. Mai almost puked, but kept her mouth shut.

"What happened?" Zuko asked pitifully.

"Those dang Fire Nation soldiers burned down my house!" he screamed, "I wouldn't leave, so they burned my face and beat me! And I have no idea where my wife is! She ran, like I told her, when they came. Now she's gone…" The man then began to weep as he slumped back into his gutter.

"It's okay, we're going to help you," Mai reassured him.

"You guys might need a little help with that," a voice from behind them offered. Zuko and Mai whipped their heads around to see June leaning over them.

"That would be appreciated," Zuko agreed.

"Well then, do you have anything with your wife's scent on it?" June asked, addressing the homeless man.

"Er… she gave me a lock of her hair before she left…" the man replied unsurely as he handed it to her.

June grabbed the lock of hair and called, "Nyla." The Shirshu sniffed the hair and got the scent. June, Zuko, Mai, and the man hopped onto him and he ran incredibly fast. The old man cowered and screamed as he clutched Mai's waist. Zuko looked at him uneasily.

Out in the distance, the group saw a small tent made out of grass and a lady right by it. "That's her! That's my wife!" the man shouted joyously. June pulled Nyla to a stop and let Zuko, Mai, and the man off.

"Thanks June," Zuko praised.

"Don't mention it. You owe me," she answered as she rode away on Nyla's back.

The man rushed over to his wife and grabbed her in his arms and hugged her. They were both sobbing with joy and the man looked back at the younger couple and said, "Thank you. Thank you so much…"

Toph, Sokka, and Suki patrolled the outer ring of Ba Sing Se, looking out for anyone in need. Occasionally, if they saw a beaten down house, they would knock on the door, but they were mostly abandoned. On about the fourth house that they knocked on the door, the door just fell down, because the hinges had mostly fallen out and were weakened.

"Is anyone home?" Suki asked softly. There was no response, so Sokka and Suki started to walk away but then Toph stopped them.

"There's someone in there!" She said, shocked. Just then, they heard a faint cry coming from inside the building.

"Let's go check it out," Sokka advised. The trio walked inside and looked almost everywhere in the house. Then, they came to a corner of the building and saw that part of the roof had fallen down. One of the pillars that had used to be supporting the roof was collapsed on the floor, and underneath it was a young girl about the same age as Sokka.

"Are you okay?" Sokka asked, stunned and concerned. All the girl could do was let out a small whimper of pain. "We're gonna help you. It's going to be all right," Sokka reassured, "Toph, can you try to earthbend her out from under the pillar?"

"No problem, Snoozles," Toph replied. She stamped the stone floor with her bare foot and suddenly a part of the floor shot up into the air and lifted the pillar. Then Sokka hastily pulled the girl out from underneath it and Toph let the pillar crash to the ground again.

"Are you okay?" Sokka asked the girl again.

"I-I'm fine…" the girl replied softly, "Tha- thank you for saving me…" Then she weakly sat upright and gave Sokka a kiss on the cheek. Suki gave her a death stare and Toph sadly looked at her feet. Sokka's whole face was bright red and he mumbled something like "um… your welcome…". Then Toph and Sokka carried the girl to the nearest hospital.

"Uh… I think it's time that we go meet up with the others now," Suki suggested. It was still a bit awkward after the kiss.

"Erm… Yeah…" Sokka replied, dazed.

In a few minutes, the whole group was back at the train station.

"How'd it go for you guys?" Zuko asked everyone.

"We did pretty well. We helped a lot of sick people," Aang replied.

"Sokka here was kissing on the job," Toph answered, making him blush. Suki looked very uncomfortable. Toph smiled at that.

"I guess we all did a good job today. Good work out there Team Avatar!" Sokka congratulated.

"Sokka, enough with the nicknames!"


	2. Hei Bai's Forest

Book 4: Air

Chapter 2: Hei Bai's Forest

Zuko strolled through the halls of the Earth King's palace, heading towards the next meeting. He looked beside him and saw Mai's beautiful face next to his. She was clutching his arm affectionately. Zuko was so grateful to have a girlfriend like her. Then, after a few minutes, they reached Kuei's fancy door and stepped inside. The couple sat down next to each other and grasped each other's hands.

"You kids did well yesterday; we got many of the sick and injured treated at the hospital. Just so you know, I'm almost certain that most of the innocent prisoners have been released. Also, I'm sorry to say, but the forests aren't doing so well. I sent some troops to go check them out, and they found many animals that were in need of a home. This is what I'm going to assign you guys to fix next. First, you'll visit the forest by Senlin Village," Earth King Kuei instructed.

"That's where Hei Bai is!" Aang realized joyously.

"Hei Bai?" Kuei inquired.

"The spirit of that forest. We're close personal friends," Aang answered.

"Ah," the Earth King responded, "Okay then, it's settled. I will arrange for Appa to wait for you by the outer wall with supplies and a couple tents strapped to his back. You guys probably won't be able to fly the whole time; you'll have to do some walking. Also, you probably won't return to Ba Sing Se in a while, but don't worry; I'll send you a hawk frequently to keep you updated. Off with you now, hasten along. Good luck!"

With that, Team Avatar left the Earth King's palace. They were leaving Ba Sing Se. _Finally! _Toph thought, relieved to be departing the city full of rules and customs. Even though Long Feng and the Dai Li had been abolished, Ba Sing Se was still very strict and proper, but Kuei was working on making improvements for a better world.

Aang hopped on Appa first, using his airbending to fling him up high into the sky and gently land on Appa's head so he could grasp the reins. Then Zuko lifted Mai up onto Appa's saddle and climbed aboard himself, using Mai's hand for support. Katara hopped on as well, and after that Sokka lifted Suki up and then pulled himself onto Appa's saddle with Toph holding onto one of his strong arms.

"Yip yip!" Aang called, causing Appa to ascend up into the blue sky. Toph felt like barfing; she absolutely _hated _flying. She clutched Sokka's arm tightly, almost cutting off his circulation.

"Ow, Toph!" Sokka cried. He wasn't exactly a fan of flying either but he didn't really mind.

"Sorry Sokka…" Toph apologized, loosening her grip a bit. Out of the corner of her eye, Toph saw Suki uneasily staring at her. Toph smiled to herself.

Mai and Zuko just looked like their normal gloomy selves, although, Mai did seem a little green-faced at the flying. Katara just sat on Appa's saddle like she lived there. Well she almost had since last year.

They flew for hours before Aang shouted, "There it is! Senlin Village." With that, Appa began his decent to the small village. Aang, Katara, and Sokka hadn't been there since the winter solstice, so they were happy to see that all the buildings Hei Bai wrecked had been restored to top condition. Toph, Zuko, Mai, and Suki had never even been here, so Toph was curious who the heck Hei Bai was. She didn't say anything though.

When they landed in the rustic town, they heard the chief shout to the villagers, "Look everyone! Avatar Aang has returned to our village!" These words caused a huge uproar and all the villagers surrounded Appa and cheered Aang's name. Thankfully, these villagers weren't nearly as… _enthusiastic _as the villagers that lived on Kyoshi Island.

Aang grabbed Katara's hand as he jumped off of Appa, and they were followed by Mai, Zuko, Toph, Sokka, and Suki. Aang greeted the chief by saying, "Hi. We're here to help the forest grow back."

"Splendid!" the chief replied, "Your probably tired from all that flying today; why don't you spend the night at our inn, then head to the forest tomorrow morning?"

"That sounds great!" Aang answered, then looked back at his friends, "Are you guys okay with that?"

"Duh," Sokka said, "I'm beat. Plus my arm is about to fall off from Toph's death grip cutting off my circulation." At this, Toph looked at her bare feet and blushed, silently laughing as the others did too.

When the group got to the inn, they were offered one room each. Aang denied the offer, saying that it was too generous, so they split into groups of two, two, and three, and each group shared a three bed room. Suki, Katara, and Toph shared a room, Aang and Zuko shared a room, and Sokka and Mai shared a room. Toph had refused to share a room with two other girls, because they would probably been up all night talking about make-up or something. So Mai had offered to switch her position with her, because she didn't really care where she slept. She made that decision unknowing that Suki and Katara would be up all night chatting like hog-monkeys. For the fiftieth time that night, Mai slammed her pillow down over her ears, trying desperately to fall asleep. "Ugh, when will you two _shut up_?" Mai moaned.

"Excuse me Mai?" Katara angrily replied, "What's up with your attitude?"

Mai sighed and simply flopped back down onto her bed.

"So…" Aang said to Zuko, lying in his bed trying to make conversation, "What's up?"

"Nothing," Zuko replied, desperately trying to get some rest.

"How's that working for you?" Aang asked, not feeling the least bit tired. Zuko sighed trying not to get angry at him. "Zuko?"

That crossed the line. "Shut up Aang! Let me get at least two minutes of freaking sleep!" Zuko screamed, accidentally burning his sheets.

"Sorry…" Aang whispered, sinking under his sheets like a turtle.

Unlike the others, Toph and Sokka slept like babies that night. As soon as they arrived in their room, they flopped down on their beds and fell fast asleep, not even bothering to change.

The next morning Toph awoke to see Sokka leaning over her, tilting his head. "Hey Toph, it's time to wake up! The others will be waiting for us!"

"Hold your horses Pony Tail, I have to get ready," Toph answered, hopping out of bed. She threw her sheets in a direction that she thought was good enough, shook her wild hair down, spat in a tin across the room then said, "Ready."

Sokka gave her a funny look. "Okay. And… ew." Toph laughed, pleased to have grossed him out. She followed him down the stairs and came to see a very impatient Aang, Katara, and Suki and a very tired Mai and Zuko waiting for them.

"Where have you two been?" Suki demanded.

"Sleeping," Toph retorted, picking a dust bunny from her toes.

"Never mind guys!" Aang shouted, "What we need to do now is get to the forest!" The others nodded and followed him out the door. They hurried along, mostly ignoring all the villagers that approached them. When they reached the edge of the forest, Aang ran inside gleefully.

"Hei Bai!" He shouted for the panda forest spirit. Nothing happened.

The others caught up to him, panting.

"Aang, what are you doing?" Katara asked, irritated.

"Um… I was looking for Hei Bai, sorry. But for some reason he won't come out."

"Maybe that's why…" Sokka said quietly, gasping as he pointed to their surroundings. The whole forest was… dead. There was no green, only brown and black and charred remains of trees.

Aang almost cried. "W-what about that acorn we planted here?"

Katara hugged him from behind and stroked his back lightly. "I'm sorry Aang. Ozai must've burned it all down during Sozin's comet. But that's why we're here. To fix it."

Aang took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right Katara. Things will get better…"

"So, let's stop the drama and get planting!" Toph shouted, trying to stop Aang from breaking out in tears. She flung open her pouch which was filled with seeds. Everyone took a handful and planted them widely throughout Senlin's forest with care. By the time they were done they'd planted hundreds of flowers and trees.

"Now we just have to water them," Toph said.

Sokka looked at her in horror. "Huh? How the heck are we supposed to water all these seeds?"

Aang stepped forward with a grin. "You're forgetting, Sokka, that I'm the Avatar." He opened his staff and took to the skies, gliding all over Senlin's forest. He took water from Katara's pouch and spread it all over the forest in drops, so every seed got water. After a couple minutes he landed.

"We could do that…" Sokka said, staring at the smiling bald kid. They laughed.

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry I haven't updated this in forever. I started writing this chapter, then stopped for a long time and finished it, so I'm sorry again if the ending seems unnatural. I am sorry to say I won't be continuing this story, also. It just wasn't going anywhere, and I don't really like it. But I may still attempt to make another Book 4, just not this one. Please check out my other stories, and review. Thanks!**

**-Lief**


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